Cultural Differences

There are two things about the Japanese that never cease to amaze me. The first is their ability to get off on things that are, in the grand scheme of things, entirely inconsequential. It takes very little for them to think that they are unique. The second is the seemingly endless supply of factoids they have about other countries, and how they apply them to the foreigners they meet. For example, after introducing myself as an American to another teacher, he responded by saying, "Ah, American.... I bet that means you eat a big breakfast. I heard that Americans eat breakfast." Simply telling someone where I'm from will produce such a list of "factual" information.

This week, I was doing the obligatory lesson about differences between Japanese and American schools with a junior high school class. I was mentally prepared to talk about such exciting topics as what students can wear to school, what students study, what kinds of after school activities they do, and the like. Of course, in class, the conversation took a much different route. First we talked about food, a favorite topic of the Japanese.

"So, Matchamonkey, is it true that American students eat in a cafeteria?" the teacher asked.

"Yes, that's true. We can buy or bring a lunch," I explained.

A student in the front row gasped at this revelation. "Yappari, amerika-jin ha okane mochi da ne." Just as I thought, Americans are rich.

Anyone who has ever bought lunch from a school cafeteria knows that you do not have to be rich to afford it. Au contraire, it is usually those of lesser means who buy food from the cafeteria. If Japanese kids never had the experience of buying a school lunch, I would understand why they might assume you would have to be rich to buy a lunch everyday; however, most Japanese students pay to have a school lunch everyday. Yet, they almost always apply the assumption that all Americans are rich to the fact that some people buy their food from a cafeteria...

At this point, the conversation took a turn for the dull.

"In Japan, we have 10 minutes between classes. How long do American students have between classes?" the teacher continued.

"I don't remember, and really it depends on the school..."

"She says it depends," the teacher explained to the students in Japanese.

A hand shot up in the back of the class. "Um, in our first year textbook it said that Americans only have 5 minutes between classes," a student countered in Japanese.

"Yes, Matchamonkey, in their textbooks it says that you only have 5 minutes," the teacher prompted me in English.

"Well, really, it differs..."

"But it is shorter than in Japan, I think. Their textbooks said 5 minutes," she continued.

"But, um..."

"Yes, they have less time than Japanese students," the teacher stated to the class in Japanese.

I don't know why it mattered to them that they have longer breaks between classes. I don't know why I fought it either.

The Kiwi

Each location in Japan has a specialty, so as to facilitate the selling of souvenirs. One town, for example, might be associated with a kind of food (Osaka and okonomiyaki), another with a historical tale (Sado Island), and another with traditional Japanese culture (Kyoto, Kanazawa). This practice extends to every location in Japan, no matter how large or small. Whatever that place is famous for is then packaged and sold to tourists in many forms, often involving Hello Kitty at some point.

I live in a town of about 50,000 people. It's in a relatively rural area.

When I taught at junior high school, the students had an assignment where they has to write about what their town was famous for. As I said, it's a small place, so all of the students pretty much wrote about the same things. I learned that their town is famous for the tsubaki (camellia), which is its official flower. Although there is a stone carving of a camellia near the town center, I have yet to see a live one. I learned that it was also famous for its massive new town hall. I doubt word of the size of their town hall has spread far beyond the borders of the town, but they were obviously proud of it. And lastly, every student wrote about how their town was famous for kiwis.

Kiwis...

This might not have bothered me so much, had it not been for the following things:

(1) Literally every student mentioned it.

(2) In all my exploration, I had never seen anything in town that did not fall under the category of ugly building or rice paddy.

I let it sit for a while, but whenever I went to a new part of town, I looked for these elusive kiwi trees. I was unsuccessful in my ventures, and finally my curiosity got the better of me. I decided to ask Umeda-sensei about the matter.

"Um, Umeda-sensei, I have a question. All of the students write about how Nonoichi is famous for kiwis. Where are they? I want to see some kiwi trees."

"Hmm... Maybe there are no kiwi trees in Nonoichi," she replied.

"Then why do the students write about their town being famous for them?" I continued.

"Well, Nonoichi's sister town is in New Zealand. That is why we are famous for kiwi fruit," she explained without batting an eye.

Let's go over that logic one more time. Nonoichi's sister town is in New Zealand. New Zealand is famous for kiwis. Therefore, Nonoichi is famous for kiwis and can sell kiwi products as if they were home grown.

If you can find my town on a Japanese map, there will usually be a little picture of a kiwi, indicating that any presents bought here should feature the kiwi fruit. You can definitely buy kiwi wine, if nothing else. But don't go looking for the kiwi trees; they're thousands of miles to the south.